Kenneth Branagh's interpretation of Hamlet is to superior to Ethan Hawke's because of the strong

symbolism used with the mirrors. Through the mirrors hamlet sees two parts of himself "To be or
not to be, that is the question" (III, ii, ln 63-105.) he himself is split into the two parts: the death
of himself and the living part. Furthermore, within one of the mirrors is Polonius and Claudius
spying on Hamlet and Ophelia extentuating the theme of Appearance and Reality. Hamlet
assumes that he and Ophelia are alone until Polonius accidentally makes a ruckus thus tipping off
Hamlet to their prescence. This idea that the appearance that he and Ophelia were alone was
under false pretenses and he realizes that the reality is that Ophelia has set him up to be spied
upon by her father and Claudius. This is the main point that seperates Branagh from Hawke as in
Hawke's version he is completely alone, changing the play completely. Additionally, the setting
was also important to Branagh's performance of the splitting of himself into life and death, the
tiles were black and white: white often symbolizes life and black often refers to death and this
gave an extra strength to the scene and the comparison of whether he should commit suicide.
There were an equal number of tiles creating a feeling of indecision pointing to his inability to
decide to kill himself or not.
Alec: Mel Gibson's performance of Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy
provides an accurate depiction of free flowing thought. In this version, Hamlet
is suddenly struck with the thought and builds on it naturally. The way Gibson
delivers the lines make it sound as if each line is popping into his head just a
second before he says them. Kenneth Branagh's version feels much more
premedidated. Branagh's use of whispering gives the scene a much more of a
sense that these thoughts have been fermenting in Hamlet's mind since he
learned of the circumstances surrounding his father's death. These
differences cause a difference in the sense of desperation surrounding
Hamlet. Branagh's Hamlet is speaking from a place of power, he seems more
cunning and crazy whereas Mel Gibson seems more desperate and
depressing.
It's important, being a soliloquy, that Hamlet is alone because a soliloquy is
meant to be said only or in the mind of one person; yet, in Kenneth Branagh's
soliloquy other characters are observing. At the sametime the mirror in
Branagh's version was a nice addition, in that this gives him the opprotunity
to split himself in two and in this killing the side of him afraid to take action.
In the soon not after scene he takes action and kills Polonius thinking him to
be Claudius. However, in Hawke's version there is also a version of himself
telling him to take action. While walking down the aisle the word action
shows up over and over. In both versions he is telling himself to take action.
''Action'' emblazoned on the shelves to fit in with the mood and color of the rest of the
picture.

. Film directors FrancoZeffirelli,Michael Almereyda and Kenneth Branagh have

brought Hamlet to varying levels of success on the screen while achieving this
through stark differences in interpretation and through realising very different
creative ideas.

. The famous Act Three, Scene One To be or not to be soliloquy is done especially
well, with Gibson maintaining an aura of strength, even as Hamlet revels in his own
misery and contemplates suicide. Zeffirelli and Gibson have combined their ideas to
create an interpretation of Hamlet that is sensitive but never weak, very active and
external in the portrayal of emotion but not over the top.
Hawke is a much more arrogant Hamlet with a pretentious New Yorker film student
persona. Unfortunately, while the idea of Hamlet as a snobby film student is not a
bad one, Hawke does not fulfil its potential in a number of ways. Firstly, in true
Sean Penn method actor style, he mumbles his lines. While this could be a valid
interpretation of Hamlets grief and frustration, the zest of Shakespeares language
is lost in Hawkes dull monotone and tired, depressed voice. Secondly, unlike the
Gibson Hamlet, Hawke transforms into an annoying wimp during the same Act
Three, Scene One soliloquy
Branagh- has a victorian setting
to be or not to be soliloquy. More interestingly, however, it shows Hamlet watching
himself exhibiting and relishing the thought of death, and can be interpreted from
the perspective of yet another aspect of voyeurism the narcissistic pleasure of
watching ones Michel Almereydas Hamlet... 115 image and recognising it as an
ideal ego
The scene thus not only brings out the quintessence of his doubt and hesitation,
developed later in the full soliloquy, but also a projection of his will and visualisation
of the desired future. In this short sequence Hamlet reveals much more of his state
of mind than through the soliloquy because he shares with the audience not only the
pain of his troubled soul but also the pleasure of contemplating the pain and
exhibiting the wound